GEN began operating in Indonesia in 2011 when it organized a national Global Entrepreneurship Week campaign in partnership with the Ciputra Foundation. GEW in Indonesia is a highlight of the annual worldwide celebration of entrepreneurship each November.
In 2018, GEN held a global Startup Nations Summit in Surabaya in partnership with the City of Surabaya and the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce. Hosted by Mayor Tri Rismaharani and Jonathan Ortmans, president of GEN, the event was a major milestone for the local ecosystem and served as a launchpad for GEN Indonesia.
Registered in Indonesia as an independent private association, GEN Indonesia is the national affiliate of the Global Entrepreneurship Network. Its mission is to develop and build Indonesia's entrepreneurship ecosystem by providing a platform of programs and activities and contributing global resources, networks, and know-how. Its key programs for entrepreneurs include Startup Huddle Jakarta, organized in partnership with Impactner Startup Business School. Startup Huddle helps local founders develop strategy, sustainability, and scalability.
The 2018 Startup Nations Summit brought together leading international experts, policymakers, and influential ecosystem leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region and around the world. Focused on identifying public sector policies to support high-impact entrepreneurship, the Summit celebrated Surabaya's emergence as a key entrepreneurial hub in Asia and resulted in host of new initiatives. The Summit firmly positioned GEN as a bridge between the private sector and the government to ensure policies reflect the needs of modern startups.
GEN Indonesia's policy advocacy work focuses on entrepreneurship education, decentralization and institutionalizing entrepreneurship in order to shift from subsidized models to sustainable, non-subsidized business models. Its current key policy and strategic initiatives include:
1. Integration with the National Entrepreneurship Map
GEN Indonesia is working closely with Indonesia's Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs and Chamber of Commerce (KADIN) to align local startups in a National Entrepreneurship Map.
- The Goal: Moving beyond "micro-businesses" toward high-impact entrepreneurs able to scale nationally, regionally and globally.
- Policy Focus: Streamlining the transition for informal businesses to become formal legal entities.
2. Decentralizing Innovation (Beyond Jakarta)
GEN Indonesia is advocating policies that support "entrepreneurial cities."
- Regulatory Sandboxes: GEN Indonesia is working with local governments across Indonesia to provide "regulatory sandboxes" where startups can test new technologies (e.g., Fintech or Agrotech) without the immediate burden of heavy national regulations.
- The "100 Innovations" Program: This initiative bridges the gap between regional innovators and Jakarta-based corporate investors.
3. Policy Feedback Loops
GEN Indonesia's initiatives (e.g., Startup Huddle) and national network gives it unique insight into regulatory challenges founders face (licensing, digital taxes, labor laws) building new job-creating enterprises. GEN Indonesia funnels this information and knowledge directly to policymakers in order to help them understand why certain regulations might be stifling growth for early-stage companies.
4. Global Talent and Knowledge Exchange
GEN Indonesia leverages its affiliation with the Global Entrepreneurship Network platform to increase:
- Cross-Border Collaboration: It is helping the Indonesian government design programs that allow local startups to enter international markets (and vice versa) with fewer bureaucratic barriers.
- Investment Standards: It is standardizing investment terms to make Indonesia a more attractive destination for foreign venture capital.
5. Entrepreneurship Education
GEN Indonesia is focused on shifting the "mindset" of students and educators rather than just teaching business mechanics by making entrepreneurship a fundamental part of the national curriculum and providing practical training through global networks. Its key activities include:
- Mindset Transformation: GEN Indonesia is advocating curriculum reforms that support creativity and innovation as arising from the learning process, specifically emphasizing that failure is a necessary part of learning.
- Workshops for Educators: It is hosting sessions for teachers and academics on developing "growth mindsets" and entrepreneurial habits that they can pass on to students.
- Roundtables for Policymakers, Educators, and Students: It hosts an on-going series of sessions on teaching and learning curriculum in partnership with President University and Universitas Pembangunan Jaya, during which policymakers, academic leaders and students discuss how Indonesia education system should evolve to better support innovative thinking.
VISION
Entrepreneurship is the fundamental backbone of Indonesia's economy. We need to continually evolve sound policies and extensive infrastructure in order to mature our national ecosystems. GEN Indonesia is contributing to this national effort by providing a platform of evidence-based programs and activities aimed to preparing our entrepreneurship ecosystems to propel our talented founders of today and tomorrow.